Off the cuff: That Carolina loss at home against Duke seemed like a foregone conclusion after the first few minutes. Some might even say that the Tar Heels looked a little out of it before the jump ball. They slowly and stiffly walked out on the court during introductions. Perhaps they were trying to be cool in such a high-pressure game but they showed no emotion and, as my mother might have said, "they looked like dead lice was falling off them." A physical, talented Duke team came out hot and got the Heels in a hole early. With Bacot on the bench much of the first half, it looked like a mismatch on the court. Carolina did have a nice run to make the halftime score respectable but then they watched A.J. Griffin hit four shots in a row to basically end chances for a Carolina comeback. Brady Manek, who kept Carolina in it in the first half, said, "They shot well from the start. That kind of got us out of a rhythm offensively but, you know, Armando getting those two fouls definitely took a toll on us early on." He said he was proud that the team fought back. "You know, we fought hard in the first half after the first five minutes or so. I mean, we were chipping away at it. We were playing hard. We're playing well. You know it was a long game and a hard game. You know, we played the best we could, we just didn't come out on top. We didn't execute well. Didn't get stops. But we all definitely played hard." It's true I suppose but Carolina's results were ugly. The way Duke was hitting shots, Carolina would have lost even if they hadn't played ugly. It's a little scary to think that this Carolina team will play in Coach K's last game at Cameron. If the Heels lost by 20 in this one, what will be the Vegas line in that one. But Carolina just needs to worry about Clemson right now. |
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